The present invention generally relates to a method and a system for providing bed availability information on, for example, a computer network. Further, the present invention relates to a method and a system for providing bed availability information on a computer network where a medical facility, such as, for example, a medical, health, extended care or geriatric care facility, may input information into a database regarding bed availability information of the particular facility. An individual requiring bed availability information may access the database and search the database for the bed availability information.
It is, of course, generally known to provide databases having information thereon. The information may be stored within the database for accessing the information at a later time. Further, it is generally known to provide access to databases on a computer network, such as, for example, the internet. A website may be utilized to simultaneously provide access to the database for adding information to the database and for retrieving information from the database.
Known methods of moving patients to beds in medical health facilities generally involve the placing of a telephone call to a medical health facility to determine if a bed or a plurality of beds is available for one or more patients. Further, known methods involve asking a plurality of questions to a representative of the medical health facility to determine types of beds available, types of services offered, payment method accepted and/or other information. These questions must be asked at each facility contacted to determine which facility best suits the patient. Moreover, many times, doctors and/or nurses must contact the medical health care facilities to gather the information about each facility. This may require doctors and/or nurses to spend more time performing an administrative task and less time providing care and support to patients and family members often regarding difficult and serious life and/or other health-related decisions.
Further, it is generally known to provide a website having access to a database wherein the database denotes whether beds are available at a healthcare facility. However, known websites and databases do not provide a mechanism for a user to directly contact the healthcare facilities to make appointments, to reserve a bed or beds and/or to gather further information about the facility.
Further, known databases and websites provide no information on the types of beds available, the quantity of beds available and/or a forecast of what beds may be available and when beds may be available in the future. Moreover, known databases and websites do not provide healthcare facilities access to the databases for adding or changing information regarding bed availability.
A need, therefore, exists for an improved method and a system for providing bed availability information in a database that overcome the problems associated with known methods and systems.